The Need for Water Planning Water Plan Vision Pennsylvania has - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

WATER RESOURCES PLANNING (ACT 220) and

the STATE WATER PLAN

The Need for Water Planning

Water Plan Vision

⚫ Pennsylvania has abundant and magnificent

water resources, which should provide:

✓ the basis for an exceptional quality of life for

Pennsylvania’s residents

✓ an opportunity for outdoor enthusiasts ✓ an attraction for visitors ✓ unparalleled natural beauty ✓ thriving ecosystems ✓ agricultural prominence ✓ economic prosperity throughout the Commonwealth

Vision – Cont’d

⚫ All those with an interest in Pennsylvania have a

stake in the use, enhancement, and stewardship

• f the Commonwealth’s water resources

⚫ The Pennsylvania Constitution vests a right to

pure water and the values of the natural environment in all Pennsylvanians, and imposes a duty to conserve and to maintain public natural resources for this generation and generations yet to come

Achieving the Vision

• 1. The State Water Plan will offer tools and guidance for all

those who make decisions that affect the Commonwealth’s water resources or who make decisions based upon the availability of water of adequate quantity and quality

• 2. The Plan should be useful to:

✓ those who wish to locate and to design their projects so that the

availability of water resources does not constrain them

✓ those who wish to preserve high environmental quality where it

exists and to achieve it where it does not

✓ local governments with planning, conservation, and economic

development responsibilities

✓ Commonwealth and Interstate Compact agencies

Achieving – Cont’d

• 3. The Plan should serve their needs by providing:

✓ a qualitative and quantitative description of water

resources in Pennsylvania based upon accurate, transparent, and readily accessible data

✓ guidance on the use of that description and those

data in the decisions that face the Plan’s users

• 4. The Plan is a starting point for considering the
• pportunities available to Pennsylvanians for

managing the state’s water resources

Act 220 of 2002 Water Resources Planning Act

• 1. Update the State Water Plan by 2008
• 2. Register and Report Certain Water Withdrawals
• 3. Identify Critical Water Planning Areas
• 4. Create Critical Area Resource Plans
• 5. Regional Priorities

• 1. Update the State Water Plan

Water Planning Regions

Water Planning

⚫ 6 Regional Committees and 1 Statewide

Committee to develop Plan for DEP approval and adoption

⚫ Plan to be developed by March 2008 ⚫ Plan is to include a number of components, or

“chapters,” including:

✓ Surface and groundwater resources ✓ Assessment and projection of withdrawal and non-

withdrawal uses

✓ Identification of potential problems and CWPAs ✓ Assessment of public water supplies ✓ Assessment of floodplain and storm water

management problems

Water Planning – Cont’d

✓ Assessment of water resources required to serve areas

with important or unique natural, scenic, environmental, or recreational values

✓ Process for identifying water conservation practices ✓ Identification of practical alternatives for adequate supply

• f water

✓ Assessment of structural and nonstructural alternatives to

address identified problems

✓ Review and evaluation of existing legal and regulatory

authorities

✓ Review and evaluation of water resources management

alternatives and recommended provisions to meet needs

✓ Proposed methods of implementing recommended actions

and activities

• 2. Registration and Reporting

User Registration

⚫ Act 220 establishes interim registration

requirements by March 2004 for:

✓ All public water supply agencies ✓ All hydropower facilities ✓ All other users whose total withdrawal within a

watershed exceeds an average rate of 10,000 gallons/day in a 30-day period

✓ EQB to adopt regulations addressing ✓ Registration ✓ Periodic reporting ✓ Recordkeeping of withdrawals

⚫ NO metering of homeowner wells

Registration – Cont’d

⚫ Paper forms ⚫ Web registration

through GreenPort

⚫ Forms and

registration available on the DEP website

http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/DEPUTATE/watermgt/wc/Act220/Registration/Default.htm

1-888-457-6653

• 3. Critical Water Planning Areas

Critical Water Planning Area

⚫ “Critical Water Planning Area” is a “significant

hydrologic unit where existing or future demands exceed or threaten to exceed safe yield of available water resources”

⚫ CWPAs may be designated:

✓ In the Statewide Plan ✓ In advance of the Statewide Plan by the Statewide

Committee and DEP, upon recommendation of a Regional Committee, if justified by evidence developed during the planning process

⚫ DEP and the Statewide Committee to adopt CWPA

“criteria” and “process” in 2005

• 4. Critical Area Resource Plans

Critical Area Resource Plans

⚫ Upon designation of a CWPA, a Critical Area

Resource Plan is to be developed

⚫ CARP is to be developed by the Regional Committee

and approved by the Statewide Committee and DEP

⚫ CARPs shall include:

✓ Identification of existing and future reasonable and

beneficial uses

✓ Water availability evaluation, including a quantitative

comparison of available resources to existing and future uses

✓ Identification of anticipated future needs ✓ Assessment of water quality issues that have a “direct and

substantial” effect on water resource availability

CARPs – Cont’d

✓ Consideration of storm water and floodplain

management within the critical water planning area and their impacts on water quality and quantity

✓ Identification of existing and potential user conflicts

and alternatives for addressing

✓ Identification of practicable supply-side and

demand-side alternatives for assuring an adequate water supply

• 5. Regional Priorities

Ohio River Basin INSERT REGIONAL MAP

Ohio River Basin Regional Priorities

• 1. Maintaining Water Supply (loss prevention)
• 2. Appropriate, Applied Use of Technology
• 3. Economic Development
• 4. Public Education and Outreach on Water

Resources

• 5. Balancing Multi-Purpose Uses

Ohio River Basin Regional Priorities

Maintaining Water Supply (loss prevention)

⚫ Mining ⚫ Loss of residential water ⚫ Residential use/lack of planning for the future ⚫ Groundwater/stormwater recharge ⚫ Old infrastructure/ Malfunctioning sewage systems (on-lot and combined) ⚫ Contingency plans

Ohio River Basin Regional Priorities

Appropriate, Applied Use of Technology

⚫ Conservation technology (e.g., recycling) ⚫ Saving technology ⚫ Remediation/treatment technology ⚫ Water quality ⚫ Water quantity ⚫ Improving infrastructure ⚫ Recharge ⚫ Nutrient management

Ohio River Basin Regional Priorities

Economic Development

⚫ Identify type of economic development and address that need to enhance growth ⚫ Define intended water uses ⚫ Identify uses, needs, and allocations ⚫ Plan for how to replace what we’re using ⚫ Positive incentives for economic growth (e.g., regulatory approvals) ⚫ Need to maintain existing and to increase job base ⚫ Wise brownfield re-use

Ohio River Basin Regional Priorities

Public Education and Outreach on Water Resources ⚫ Provide information to public ⚫ Obtain feedback from public ⚫ Need more info/data on water resources

Ohio River Basin Regional Priorities

Balancing Multi-Purpose Uses

⚫ Protecting existing uses ⚫ Trading and credits? ⚫ Intended uses (e.g., storage) ⚫ Emergency allocations ⚫ Water budgeting ⚫ Protection of current clean water resources ⚫ Incentives for water storage ⚫ Balance between/among different uses (both in regular and emergency conditions)

Public Participation Opportunities

⚫ May 2005 – Public Meetings/Hearings in each

region to solicit comments from interested persons on water resources planning issues related to the preparation of the regional component of the state water plan

⚫ Regional and Statewide committee meetings ⚫ Public meetings/hearings in each region to

solicit input on the drafts of the initial regional plan components to be used in the development

• r amendment of the state water plan

2005 Regional Committee Meetings

May 5/9 - Ohio 5/10 - Great Lakes 5/12 - Delaware 5/16 - Lower Susquehanna 5/19 - Potomac 5/26 – Upper/ Middle Susquehanna August 8/8 - Ohio 8/9 - Great Lakes 8/11 - Delaware 8/15 - Lower Susquehanna 8/18 – Upper/ Middle Susquehanna 8/19 - Potomac November 11/7 - Ohio 11/8 - Great Lakes 11/10 - Delaware 11/17 – Upper/ Middle Susquehanna 11/18 - Potomac 11/21 - Lower Susquehanna

Act 220 Contact Information

Act 220 Registration Hotline: (888) 457-6653 DEP Water Planning Office (717) 783-4693 Ronald Rohall (724) 238-4973 Chair, Ohio Regional Committee Don Bluedorn (412) 394-5400 Chair, Statewide Committee Jeff Fliss DEP Regional Liaison (412) 442-4207

Questions and Comments